So let’s say you have been reading
this column for a while. Or maybe you just got into it, and
you’ve gone back and looked at previous segments. And let’s
assume you have taken seriously our recommendations about using
good planning, organizing and practice skills to maximize your
competitive fishing success.
Maybe you even have a story or two about gaining better control
over the controllable variables in tournament settings. Well, good
for you. Anticipating likely obstacles, developing pretournament
routines and using structured plans in those instances where
systems can be helpful are psychological performance dimensions
worth developing.
However, to paraphrase the poet Robert Burns, the best-laid plans
of mice and men oft go astray. In spite of your best efforts, you
will eventually run into crises of one type or another. This does
not mean you should give up anticipating, planning and organizing.
You should not. However, there are variables over which we do not
always have complete control. At times when we least expect it,
things can flat fall apart.
Equipment will malfunction, your line will break and, sooner or
later, you’ll lose a money fish. You may even forget to turn on
your livewell in a championship event!
However, there are a whole range of responses you can have to
crisis events, some of which are significantly more
psychologically healthy than others. Let’s look at what some of
those adaptive responses might be.
Practical vs. emotional crises
There are basically two kinds of crises: practical and emotional.
An example of a practical crisis would be your favorite reel
falling apart 20 minutes into your tournament day. In this case,
something tangible has gone wrong, and you would most likely
figure out a way to fix or replace your reel and keep fishing.
However, it is not uncommon for people to make a practical crisis
worse by creating an emotional crisis to go with it. We have all
seen tournament anglers (certainly not us!) become openly
frustrated, distraught and angry when equipment goes ka-flooey.
The intense competitive energy we experience during tournaments
can spill over into angry tirades including, but not limited to,
shouting matches with fellow competitors, spectators or boat
partners.
However, psychological research is very clear in demonstrating
that clear thinking and emotional intensity are inversely
correlated. That means that as our emotions go up, our capacity to
think and behave in a calm, reasoned, adaptable manner goes down.
So, to return to the broken reel example, the first thing you
should do when you encounter a practical crisis is focus on
calming yourself, especially if you are prone to emotional,
excitable episodes. We have all had experiences where we behaved
in a rash or impetuous manner when we were cranked up. Such
responses can be disastrous in and around tournaments, however.
Consequences
I use the busted reel for illustration because I once watched a
successful professional fisherman impulsively throw a reel with
stripped gears over the side of his boat. It was funny for a
moment until he realized the line was still attached to his rod;
watching that $325 G. Loomis follow the reel to the bottom of the
lake was most assuredly not funny.
Also, keep in mind that even in nontelevised events, loud,
profane, obnoxious unsportsmanlike outbursts by tournament anglers
can cause disqualification or, at the very least, public
embarrassment. It says here that we are all ambassadors or
representatives of the sport of competitive fishing, and we need
positive, not negative, publicity. So it pays, for several
reasons, to keep our strongest reactions in check.
We sometimes hear an emotionally charged competitor defend a
tirade or outburst by saying, “This is just who I am.” Well,
it is certainly true that some of us have intense, mercurial
temperaments, while other people are more naturally easy-going and
laid-back.
However, just because you have a 250-horsepower engine on your
boat doesn’t mean you can or should drive fast whenever you feel
like it. We all have to abide by no-wake zones and controlled
speed-limit areas. If you have a big emotional engine, as it were,
you may have to work a little to harder than the next guy to idle
along when circumstances require moderate emotional expression.
Nevertheless, no wake means no wake, regardless of how big your
power plant might be.
How to manage your emotional reactions
OK, but what’s a guy to do with all that pent-up emotion,
frustration and aggravation when several things go south at once,
you might ask? Here is where performance psychology can be very
helpful. Several decades of research provide us with a clear list
of what to do and what to avoid:
• Do take six deep breaths. Then take six more. Breathe in
through your nose for five seconds and then breathe out through
your mouth for seven seconds. (No, you won’t run out of air.)
After 12 repetitions, you will be significantly calmer.
• Do remind yourself that this crisis is temporary. It is
unlikely that this event will end your competitive fishing career.
• Do remind yourself that these things happen to everyone.
Review in your head a story about how a favorite competitor
overcame a particularly challenging crisis. If he could do it, so
can you.
• Do ask for help. If you are too revved up to think straight,
let someone who is not offer suggestions.
• Do something nice for someone else. Altruism is one of the
most effective ways we know of to cope with emotional turmoil. A
touring pro whose trolling motor short-circuited on the last day
of a tournament gave up his spot to a pair of local fishermen. It
was amazing how relaxed he became just by helping two strangers.
• Don’t give your angry feelings free expression. Anger most
often leads to more anger, and as noted above, angry people
don’t think clearly.
• Don’t do anything until you regain your composure.
Distressed people make impulsive moves they later regret far more
often than relaxed people.
• Don’t act or talk like this only happens to you. It
doesn’t. Set your emotions aside and get back into
problem-solving mode as quickly as you can.
• Don’t forget your ultimate objective of becoming a
successful tournament angler. When you encounter a crisis, your
response to it should help rather than hurt your career.
• Don’t let a pattern of emotional episodes or rash behaviors
take you down. If you recurrently lose your cool when crises
arise, be mature enough to go see your performance psychologist
for help.
Remember, we don’t have much control over when or how crises
will occur, though we have a lot of control over how we respond to
them.
Jay T. McNamara, Ph.D., L.P., is a psychologist, who is
also an avid bass and walleye angler. With more than 26 years of
professional experience complemented by participation in
competitive fishing at local and national levels, he is uniquely
qualified to illustrate how performance psychology principles
apply to tournament fishing.
